Florida freshman first baseman Taylor
Schwarz (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) roped a two-out RBI double off the wall
in left center in the top of the fourth, and that’s the only run the No. 2
Gator softball squad would need in a 1-0 victory Sunday over UAB in the
Gainesville Super Regional to punch a ticket to Oklahoma City for the fifth
time in program history (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013).

In a stellar defensive game for the Gators
behind junior ace Hannah Rogers’ (Lake Wales, Fla.) performance in the
circle, freshman Kelsey Stewart (Wichita, Kan.) showed her range and
defensive skills at second on a UAB ball hit up the middle that had Blazer senior
pinch runner Hailey Glynn – representing the game-tying run – scampering home
from second with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Stewart laid out,
snagged the ball in the dirt by second base, composed herself and controlled
the ball enough to gun home from her knees to freshman catcher Aubree Munro (Brea,
Calif.) at the plate for the third and final out in dramatic fashion.

A crowd of 1,679 came out to Katie Seashole
Pressly Stadium Sunday to watch the Gators solidify their spot in Oklahoma
City, as the Orange and Blue (57-7) are WCWS bound for the fifth time in the
last six years. UF last appeared in OKC in 2011, as the Gators played for a
national championship that year. Florida defeated the UAB Blazers (40-19), 4-3,
in walk-off fashion Saturday before holding onto a 1-0 differential through
three innings Sunday for the sweep.

The Gators will meet
familiar league foe Tennessee Thursday at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2 in WCWS
opening-round action at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium.The Gators and Lady
Vols have never met in the NCAA Tournament, but have met nine times in the SEC
Tournament for a 5-4 all-time record in postseason play against UT, including
4-1 under head coach Tim Walton. Florida edged out Tennessee for the SEC
regular-season title in 2013, while also taking two-of-three from the Lady Vols
in Gainesville during the regular-season set. The last four meetings between
Florida and Tennessee have all gone eight innings. Florida leads the all-time
history of the series, 43-20, including a 4-3 record on neutral ground. Under
Walton, UF is 21-7 against the Lady Vols.

Rogers tossed a gem Sunday (7.0 IP, 4 H, 0
ER, 2 BB, 7K), her 11th shutout of the year, to improve to 33-5 in the circle
for the Orange and Blue with her 97th career victory. Her seven Ks tied for
second-most in NCAA Tournament play, as she’s previously fanned nine batters
twice, once each in 2011 and 2012 Regionals play. Rogers struck out the side in
the bottom of the first, retiring five of the first batters she faced via
strikeout. The two-time All-American righty also sat the side down in the fifth
after the Gators grabbed the lead in the top of the fourth as the designated
visitors Sunday.

Florida used base hits from birthday girl and
starting freshman catcher Taylore Fuller (Trenton, Fla.), sophomore
designated player Lauren Haeger (Peoria, Ariz.), Schwarz and junior
third baseman Stephanie Tofft (Lincoln, Calif.), as Fuller and Tofft led
off the third and sixth innings with base hits for the Orange and Blue, Tofft
her league-leading 18th double and second two-bagger of the game for UF.

·The
Orange and Blue now own a 47-29 (.618) all-time record in the NCAA Tournament,
including a 42-19 (.689) record under eighth year head coach Tim Walton

·The
Gators are making their the trip to OKS for their fifth-ever Women’s College
World Series, marking Florida’s fifth in the last six years, including an
unprecedented four straight from 2008-11, as the Gators played for the national
championship in 2009 (Washington) and 2011 (Arizona State)

·UFis now 11-2 (.846) all-time in Super Regional play

·TheGators are undefeated at home in Super Regional action: 10-0

·Florida
is now 33-5 (.868) versus the original 2013 Tourney Field (64) and played 15
NCAA Tourney teams in the regular season

·Florida
is now 12-3 (.800) this season against teams in Supers

·Florida
is ranked No. 2 in the country, has 21 come-from-behind wins this season and the
Gators are 5-2 in extra innings, 16-4 (.800) against top-25 opponents. The Orange
and Blue own 15 run-rules and 20 shutouts this season, 11 of them belonging to
Rogers

·UF
has now been a top five national seed in the NCAA Tournament each of the past
six years, three as a top-three seed

·The
Gators have had just three errors in their last 13 outings

·Notably,
Haeger is just four home runs away from the school record (22), along with 10
RBI away from the Gators’ single-season record (80)

·Rogers
owns 97 career wins at Florida in the circle and would be the second pitcher in
Gator history to hit the 100-win mark

POSTGAME QUOTES

Opening Statement

“First off, congratulations to UAB on a
record-setting season they had. They are a great team and, obviously, a great
clutch hitting team. They have great pitching. That’s one of the best staffs
we’ve seen all year long. I really like their coach’s aggressive style. I
really thought they came in and stuck to their game plan and really got after
it. I’m proud of our team and proud of our fans for being there for us
throughout the whole weekend again like they always are. It’s nice to come up
here to these press conferences and look up and see new faces every single time
I come up here and that just tells you the story of our team. Everybody is
contributing to our team through the wins and the losses. We’ve just done a
good job of believing in each other and our practices have been methodical;
sometimes boring because we repeat the same thing over and over again. In the
end, I think we were just rewarded for the hard work and the tough practices
and preseason we went through with the mental toughness. Just again, really
proud of every one of these girls up here. They did a great job for us. What a
phenomenal play at the end of the game, but a great clutch hit from (Taylor)
Schwarz to get it going for us. In the end, like I said, I’m just really proud.
This is a really special moment for me and my family and these players and
everybody involved in our program. Just appreciate everybody and all their hard
work this season.”

On the last play of the game

“Initially, off the bat, I thought it was
going to go up the middle and then I actually thought she over-dove a little.
You see how it hit her on the heel of the glove instead of in the pocket. She
got a great jump off the bat and knocked it down. I was just hoping she
wouldn’t throw the ball to first base because there was no chance of getting
her at first. As she came up to her knees, she looked right at the plate and
honestly, she threw her out by a lot, but it’s a closer play than it looks like
because if she hesitates or does the wrong thing, then they have a run. I’m
really proud of her for being heads-up and come looking for that out.”

On if that’s an aggressive play that he
would make sending the runner home

“Absolutely. I don’t see anything wrong with
that. I wasn’t in the third-base coaching box, so it’s hard for me to know.
I’ve had plays end the same way. I’ve had people thrown out at the plate and in
the same manner before. I wouldn’t blow it out of proportion just being the
magnitude of this type of game. I applaud her effort for trying to find a way
to get a run in there. How many hits is Hannah (Rogers) going to give up in a
row? To be honest, it forced her to make a perfect play and, obviously, we
did.”

On what it feels like taking this
year’s team to the Women’s College World Series

“It’s a totally different feeling. It’s a
completely different feeling. With Kelsey Bruder being on our staff, we just
talked about how she is so happy for these players because they relish these a
little different than her teams did. At times, like I said, we’re an underdog.
Even though we’re the Florida Gators, we played this season as an underdog.
We’ve come in kind of unnoticed and played well. I’m really proud of our team
for being able to do that. The other teams have always been the number one
seed. One year, we had a target on our back coming out after playing the year
before. At the end of the day, I’m really proud. It’s a completely different
feeling. It’s a very special feeling for these young players because they don’t
understand what they have accomplished in such a short period of time. I’m glad
no one has told them what they have accomplished. I’m glad they just keep
playing softball. But, this is a huge accomplishment. This program has been
around at Florida for 17 years and we’ve been to the Women’s College World
Series only five times. It tells you how hard it is to do. For that to be done
by this group of kids that have never played college softball before, or at
least half of them, I’m really proud of them and they way they handled
themselves on and off the field and really pulled together very well.”

On why he went with Aubree Munro at
catcher in the last inning instead of Taylore Fuller

“I went with my defensive catcher. Taylore
Fuller has been offensive for us all year long, obviously, when you look at the
offense she’s put up for us. I went with Aubree for two reasons: One, Aubree is
a special kid. I recruited her to be on the field and I wanted her to have an
opportunity to get in this game too. We need her to be successful long term for
us. Short term, Taylore Fuller is playing her butt off and hitting the ball
well and I’m going to keep playing her. Long term, Aubree Munro needs to be a
part of what we’re doing too. You can’t do it with one catcher. You’re one foul
tip away from having to go with somebody else. I have a lot of confidence in
her, but I have a ton of confidence in both of them. Obviously, Taylore Fuller
is going to start for us in the first game on Thursday. Again, Aubree needs to
play too.”

On pitching and defense setting his
team apart

“You have to be good at what you’re good at.
For us to know what we’re good at is a strength. We’re really good at pitching
and we’re really good on defense. Offensively, we’ve had our struggles all year
long compared to what Gator fans are used to. Maybe even compared to what the
coaches and players are used to. At the end of the day, we’re really good at
pitching and defense. We’re going to continue to try to be really good at it,
make all the plays we’re supposed to and then everyone once in a while, make a
special one too.”

On if it was frustrating leaving
runners on base

“At this point in time, it’d be frustrating
if we were sitting here going home at the end of the season, 0-2. But, 2-0,
finding a way to get a hit, it’s a tough task to go up there and get a hit. Let
alone get a hit in a crucial situation. We have to get better at that, but we
had to get better at that in the middle of the year too. We were struggling and
doing a couple of the same things. I don’t think it has anything to do with
that. It has more to do with really good pitching, hitting quality spots and
hitters just not being able to come through with hits.”

On the pitching of Hannah Rogers

“She was really good today. She struck out
five of the first six batters. She just really commanded her pitches. She had
her inside pitches going well and her outside pitches going well. She changed
speeds a couple of times. She actually threw a good 2-1 changeup to their
five-hole hitter in that seventh inning. That was a really key pitch. I thought
she was really good. And her defense, don’t forget about her defense. She made
a lot of really good plays.”

Florida Freshman 2B Kelsey Stewart

On the last play

“Every day in practice we go through
‘game-winners’ and Katie (Medina) and I went up to each other and said
‘game-winners.’ Coach (Walton) always hits balls at us like that in practice.
Actually, I never doubted the ball was going to get through, so I was just
laying my body out there, trying to get the ball stopped.”

On if she was surprised the runner made
the turn from third

“I actually thought she thought I was going
to go to one, I would have gone there too. I saw her hit third and keep
running, so I just got on my knees and threw the ball.”

On if they talked about going to the
Women’s College World Series as a team

“We haven’t talked about it. It has been a
forbidden word. We just wanted to take it every inning at a time and every game
at a time. Now with the feeling, I’m really excited. It’s really surreal. I
have to keep reminding myself, we’re going to the Women’s College World Series.
With this team, there is no doubt that I’m really glad I’m going with these 16
girls.”

On what “16 Strong” means to them

“Sixteen strong means to me that it is also a
family. From the day we got here, we’ve been through a roller-coaster. From
running the three miles to throwing up and having each other’s back this whole
time. So, I just really think it’s a family thing through all the
roller-coasters, yet we’re still here, 16 strong, and never been stronger.”

Florida
Sophomore 1B Taylor Schwarz

On
hit to bring in the winning run today

“I
just have to give the glory to God and my team because I wouldn’t have been in that
position without the support of my team.”

On
getting the big hit

“I
know we only scored one run but all game we were moving runners, we were
getting bunts down, Katie Medina got two bunts down today, that’s huge if you
think about it. My hit was just a clutch hit and it happened to be the only run
we scored today, but with my team’s help, that’s why I got it done.”

On
team chemistry

“I
think no matter where we are or what we are doing it’s like a family thing.
Ever since we (freshman) first got here, they welcomed us in.”

On
what ’16 Strong’ means to her

“When
we say (16 strong) to me, It’s just comforting because I know these girls have my
back. Sixteen strong is just really bringing us all together and it helps us
stay confident in each other and we know that we have each other’s back.”

Florida
Senior RF Kelsey Horton

On
Kelsey Stewart’s play to end the game

“I
think we were just really prepared and we had a lot of confidence in Kelsey.
Obviously we didn’t know she was going to round third but she’s just a heads up
player and I’m really proud of her for coming up and throwing on her knees like
that.”

On
advancing to the Women’s College World Series

“I’m
just really excited, it’s the biggest stage you can play softball on. It’s just
really exciting and I’m so happy I get to experience it with the 16 girls
around me.”